Anbang may buy $2.3 bn of Japanese assets from Blackstone

China’s Anbang Insurance Group is in talks to buy as much as $2.3 billion in Japanese residential property assets from Blackstone Group, two people involved in the discussions said, in what would be Japan’s biggest property deal since the global financial crisis.

The US asset manager is discussing the sale of properties it had bought from investors, including in a deal with General Electric in 2014, according to the sources, who asked not to be identified. The talks are in an advanced stage, one of the sources said. For Anbang, seeking to diversify its assets globally, the deal would be its first foray into Japanese real estate. The Chinese firm last year lost out to a Japanese developer Hulic in bidding for property asset manager Simplex Investment. 

A Blackstone official declined to comment. Anbang officials did not provide an immediate comment.